Prosecution paints Diddy as head of criminal ‘kingdom’ in closing arguments

Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of rape or sexual assault that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can find help and discreet resources on the National Sexual Assault Hotline website or by calling 1-800-656-4673.

(NewsNation) — Prosecutors took their final shot at convincing a jury to convict Sean “Diddy” Combs by painting him as having a criminal enterprise akin to a “kingdom” during closing arguments Thursday.

The seven-week legal proceeding has culminated in its final days of the highly anticipated trial with the last of 34 witnesses taking the stand.

The government took nearly five hours to make its closing statement going longer than the four hours they were allotted.

Defense attorneys will make their final plea to jurors Friday. The government will then get an opportunity to give a brief rebuttal.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations on Monday. 

Prosecutors focus on Diddy’s influence, violence

The government started its closing arguments by portraying Combs as a mogul who used “power, influence and fear,” to run a criminal enterprise to commit the brutal sex crimes they’ve laid out throughout the trial.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik told the jury Combs was someone “who doesn’t take no for an answer,” and “counted on silence and shame” to enable his abusive behavior.

She pointed to Combs’ “small army” of assistants and bodyguards — some of whom were called to the witness stand earlier in the trial — to help him harm women and help cover it up.

“When someone commits crime as part of a group, they’re more powerful and dangerous,” Slavik said. “The defendant was a powerful man, but he became more powerful and dangerous because of his inner circle, his businesses — the enterprise.”

Diddy thought he was ‘above the law’: prosecutor

Slavik leaned into Combs’ position as the leader of his music enterprise.

“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” she said. “He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.”

The government is trying to prove its racketeering case, which she argued in Combs’ case occurs, “when someone commits crime as part of a group, they’re more powerful and dangerous.”

“The defendant was a powerful man, but he became more powerful and dangerous because of his inner circle, his businesses — the enterprise,” Slavik said.

She argued Combs and his inner circle committed hundreds of racketeering crimes, including drug distribution, kidnapping, arson and witness tampering.

Using a slide show for the jury, she showed photos of people in Combs’ inner circle, as well as excerpts from testimony earlier in the trial.

Former Diddy partners testified to abuse, violence

Slavik said Combs “was abusive: physical, emotional, psychological, sexual abuse,” during her hours long summation.

“The defendant doesn’t deny the abuse. They just want to call it ‘domestic violence’ and claim it doesn’t have anything to do with the crimes charged.” Combs’ defense has stated a number of times throughout the trial that his conduct amounted to domestic violence.

The government’s case brought on several former employees of Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment companies, but its most noteworthy witnesses were two former partners, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and “Jane,” a social media influencer who testified under a pseudonym. 

Ventura, who was late term in her pregnancy at the time, testified over four days about the decade-long abuse she faced at Combs’ hands. She said she felt pressured to engage in hundreds of sexual events, dubbed “Freak Offs,” with sex workers. These encounters were often filmed, and Ventura said she was threatened by Combs, who used the videos as leverage over her. 

Jane testified for six days about sexual performances she called “hotel nights,” saying she felt coerced into engaging in them as recently as last August but did so because she loved and still loves Combs.

Ventura was in a relationship with Combs from 2007 to 2018, while Jane was with him from 2021 until his arrest last year.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers played several minutes of recordings of the “freak offs” and “hotel nights.”

While the prosecution presented a robust case, defense attorneys wrapped up theirs within hours and with no witnesses. 

Much of their argument rested on the theory that all of the accusers were consenting adults and that no one was forced to participate in Combs’ sexual events. 

They relied largely on text messages between Combs and his ex-partners to show that the women were willing and even arranged for the sexual encounters at times. 

Prosecutors, however, portrayed a web of nefarious activity that occurred around Combs’ “Freak Offs” and relationships with women. 

Combs is facing possible life in prison after being charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

He has pleaded not guilty. 

Some charges dropped against Diddy before closing arguments

Prosecutors on Tuesday said they removed some of the charges related to Combs’ indictment in order to focus the jury’s instructions for deliberation, court filings showed. 

Namely, they got rid of instructions from charges related to attempted kidnapping, aiding and abetting sex trafficking and attempted arson. 

“The Government is no longer planning to proceed on these theories of liability so instructions are no longer necessary,” prosecutors wrote in a letter to Judge Arun Subramanian on Tuesday.

The arson charge stemmed from an incident to which Kid Cudi, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi, testified as a witness. Mescudi said that in 2012, his Porsche 911 was firebombed in the driveway of his Hollywood Hills home. Combs had allegedly broken into Mescudi’s home weeks earlier after finding out about his relationship with Ventura. 

The jury also faced its share of drama when Subramanian excused a juror for not being truthful during the selection process about his place of residence. 

The juror had casually mentioned to a member of the court staff that he moved in with his girlfriend in New Jersey, which is out of the jurisdiction of the Southern District of New York. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.